Jrue Holiday and a friend were driving to a Los Angeles Dodgers game in June 2013 when his agent at the time, Tony Dutt, called with concerning news. There were rumors the Sixers, fresh off a disappointing season and under the new regime of Sam Hinkie, were about to trade Holiday to New Orleans.
It didn't make sense. Hinkie hadn't called Dutt to give him a heads up that the Sixers might want to move Holiday. "Normally a team would call and we'd work together," Dutt says.
Holiday had just made the All-Star team. He was entering the first season of a four-year, $41 million extension that looked like a bargain -- so much so that, as they were digesting the signing, Holiday stared at Dutt and asked him, "Why don't you look happier?